How to Set Up Family Sharing on iOS 11

If everyone in your household is in the ecosystem, it makes sense to set up Family Sharing. It lets your family members (up to six people) share iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases, as well as other amenities. Here’s how to get started.

Family Organizer

The person who sets up Family Sharing is known as the Organizer. This is the person whose credit card will be on file for everyone to use. The organizer also picks the features that the family will share, and can invite other family members.

Things You Can Share

iTunes, iBooks, App Store purchases

iCloud Drive storage – the 200GB and 2TB plans can be shared

Apple Music Family Plan

Family Photo album

Family Calendar & Reminders

Share locations

Find family members’ lost devices with Find My iPhone

When you share iCloud storage, every family member has their own separate space. No one else can access your files unless you share them. You can see how much storage everyone is using, and upgrade to a bigger plan if you need it.

When it comes to sharing purchases, Apple content like apps, songs, books, etc., become available to everyone else. They show up int he Purchases tab in iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store for each member. You can hide individual purchases if you want to keep them private.

Keep in mind that you can only set up and delete two family sharing groups per year. If you start a group and then delete it, you’ll only be able to set up one more. It’s better to delete individual family members than delete the group, unless you really don’t need it anymore.